The advent of vertical louver-type venetian blinds has brought about new concepts in interior design for commercial and residential installations. Vertical blinds have been particularly well received in contemporary architecture where relatively large expanses of window glass are utilized or large room partitions are desired. The vertical blind may be of substantial vertical height and, when closed, may extend along a considerable horizontal length to cover a wall or a window, or to partition a room.
Conventional vertical blinds include a plurality of vertically oriented louvers (also called slats or vanes) which are discrete segments secured at their tops to carrier trucks of a mounted headrail. The louvers are adapted for lateral movement along the headrail between an open blind position, when the louvers are drawn to one or opposite ends of the headrail, and a closed position, when the louvers are positioned in generally equally spaced relation to one another along the length of the headrail. The louvers of a conventional blind are also adapted for selective rotation about their longitudinal axis between open and closed positions to control the amount of light entering between the louvers into or out of an adjacent room.
One type of vertical blind, known as a soft vertical blind, includes a continuous, sheer curtain face that is integrally secured to the front, longitudinal edges of the louvers. This product design requires proper care and handling, particularly with respect to the packaging and installation of such products.
Packaging conventional vertical blinds for shipping typically is as simple as laying the discrete slats or louvers in an appropriately dimensioned cardboard box, one on top of the other, to form a stack or column. The remaining components of the blind system, such as, the headrail, the control elements (e.g., a wand), and the mounting hardware, are then placed in the box alongside the stack of slats. A filler material may be added to prevent the items from moving during shipping. Shipping soft vertical blinds, however, is not so straightforward. Although the slats are relatively rigid and durable, the curtain is made from a rather delicate, sheer material which readily shows damage (e.g., crease lines and stretched areas) resulting from improper handling during shipping. Stacking the slats directly on top of one another (as with conventional blinds) can cause damage to the sheer curtain. Moreover, adding filler material to press against a stack of slats to secure it against movement can cause further damage to the curtain.
Installing conventional vertical blinds is also relatively straightforward. Once the headrail is mounted, each individual slat is simply removed from the box, one at a time, and then hung on an associated carrier truck of the headrail. By contrast, with a soft vertical blind, the slats cannot be removed individually from the box and clipped onto the carrier trucks one at a time because the sheer curtain integrally secures the slats together.
In light of the foregoing, it appears desirable to provide a packaging and installation system for use with a soft vertical blind. Specifically, there is a need for a system which allows a soft vertical blind to be packaged securely within a conventional shipping box, without causing damage to the sheer curtain during shipping. There is also a need for a system for facilitating the installation of a soft vertical blind (e.g., the removal of the blind from the box and the mounting of it on the headrail).